Telegram Business and Chat Automation: how the bot assistant handles the first contact

Customers do not always start a conversation through a separate bot. It is often easier to message an owner, administrator, or manager directly in their personal Telegram account. Telegram Business and Chat Automation make it possible to connect a bot to that account so it can help with the first contact.

BotMarketing.pro provides this through the Bot assistant section. The assistant currently saves the incoming message, immediately sends the configured greeting, and can invite the customer to open the company's regular bot.

What Telegram Business and Chat Automation are

Telegram Business adds customer-facing tools to a regular Telegram account, including business information, quick replies, greeting messages, and support for a connected chatbot. Telegram refers to connecting a bot to business-account conversations as Chat Automation.

The connected bot can receive messages from the Telegram chats allowed by the account owner and reply on behalf of the business account. The owner chooses which chats the bot may access in Telegram settings.

Two features should not be confused:

• Telegram Business greeting and away messages are configured directly in Telegram;
• the BotMarketing.pro Bot assistant uses the connected bot and the company's settings in the service.

Who may connect an account

Telegram technically lets the business-account owner choose a compatible bot. BotMarketing.pro applies an additional security rule: it accepts connections only from the company owner or a user listed as company staff.

If the bot is connected to an outside account, BotMarketing.pro rejects that connection. Its messages do not create customers, channels, or conversation history for the company.

How the Bot assistant works today

1. A customer messages the personal Telegram account of the company owner or a staff member.
2. BotMarketing.pro saves the incoming message in a separate Business conversation.
3. The assistant sends the configured greeting after the first customer message.
4. If the invitation is enabled, the greeting is followed by a regular link to the company bot.
5. The staff member continues the conversation in their personal Telegram account.

A greeting can be sent again after a new message when the previous incoming customer message was 24, 72, 168, or 720 hours ago. This is a period of inactivity, not a calendar-day schedule. An old or duplicated update does not cause another greeting.

By default, the greeting is enabled, it may repeat after 72 hours of inactivity, and the invitation to the bot is enabled.

What you can configure

• enable or disable the greeting;
• edit the greeting text;
• choose the inactivity period before another greeting;
• add a link to the regular bot and Mini App.

The company needs an active Telegram bot. The bot must have a username before an invitation can be added. Telegram must also allow the connected bot to reply in the chat. If reply permission is temporarily unavailable, the incoming message is still saved but no greeting is sent.

Should the customer still be moved to the regular bot?

A personal business conversation can be enough for the first contact and a continued manual discussion. For example, an independent specialist may acknowledge a question automatically and then agree on the details personally.

However, the Business conversation does not currently replace the regular bot. The customer needs to open the bot to:

• launch the Mini App;
• browse the product or service catalog;
• place an order or choose a booking time;
• view orders and rewards;
• participate in a loyalty program;
• receive later messages and broadcasts through the bot.

For a business that uses a catalog, ordering, or recurring marketing, it is therefore useful to keep the invitation enabled. The assistant meets the customer in a familiar personal chat, while the link moves them to the self-service and customer-base tools.

Practical examples

Independent specialist

A customer messages the specialist directly. The assistant confirms that the message was received, and the specialist replies manually. The bot link may be disabled if there is no catalog or Mini App booking flow.

Services and appointments

A customer asks an administrator a question, receives a greeting and a link, then opens the bot to browse services and choose a time in the Mini App.

Shop or delivery business

The first question reaches a salesperson, while the greeting immediately directs the customer to the bot with the current catalog and ordering flow.

Small team

The owner and registered staff can connect their work accounts. Connections from outsiders do not gain access to company data.

What the assistant does not do yet

The current version only sends a greeting. Inside the personal Business conversation, it does not:

• generate replies with artificial intelligence;
• reply according to keywords or phrases;
• show inline buttons or run callback flows;
• place an order automatically;
• forward the request to another staff member.

Regular bot commands, the catalog, Mini App, and ordering become available after the customer opens the bot.

Development plans

The next planned stage is configurable automatic replies based on keywords and phrases. They are intended to help with recurring questions, but the guide and interface will present them as available only after they have actually launched.

Other automation scenarios may be added later based on company workflows and user feedback. No specific features or delivery dates are being promised at this stage.

How to start

1. Connect and activate the company's Telegram bot in BotMarketing.pro.
2. Connect that bot in Telegram Business Chat Automation and allow the required chats.
3. Open Engagement → Bot assistant in BotMarketing.pro.
4. Review the greeting, inactivity interval, and bot invitation.
5. Send a test message from another Telegram account.

For the next steps after a customer opens the bot, read about the Telegram Mini App and automatic messages through the bot.